>Goal Setting

>For those writers out there, do you set goals with your work? Sunday’s on Twitter is #writechat day. I’ve only been involved in a few, but I learn so much out of it.

This past Sunday was all about goal setting (or atleast that was one topic). I realized that I’m short changing myself by not setting realistic goals for myself when it comes to my writing. Sure, I had goals. My writing time is primarily in the evenings while I’m at work. My goal is to complete atleast 2 pages a night. I know it’s not much, but it’s what I can do realistically at work.

Lately though I’ve been finding myself frustrated, annoyed, unable to focus and getting lost easily in my story. I had a scene in my head that would take a week or more to write. Since I spent so much time on that scene, I’d lose my focus for the next scene or chapter. Sure, I have a chapter summary, but that has been changing so much as my scenes and ideas change. The past 2 weeks have been really frustrating for me, to say the least.

After realizing the important of goal setting on Sunday through #writechat, I have to say I feel really energized. I worked on my goals. Not just weekly, but monthly and even set a end goal. I pushed myself so I won’t become complacent. I now have an end site. I know how many words I want to achieve as a minimum and I now know when I will have this book completed by.

I’m so organized that I even have my goal sheet printed out. I’m a visual person, so I created an excel spreedsheet to keep me accountable as well. 18 weeks and I’ll be done. I’m excited!

How about you? Have you participated in #writechat? Do you have a goal? How do you set them? What works best for you? I’d love to hear!